A 2016 study by the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association has shown that over 44% of workers in their industries have been verbally abused or worse. In some industries, it is reported as being as often as one to two times per week.
Arming your staff with the best tools to de-escalate situations and reduce harm to themselves is paramount, and it can even stop reputational damage eating into your organisation’s bottom line.
This course will provide all members of your organisation with the knowledge and skills they need to de-escalate incidents of verbal abuse from customers.
Benefits
- Basic understanding of how the legal system and legislation are designed to support you.
- Understanding conflict resolution principles and knowing how to apply them practically.
- Having the skills to de-escalate and negotiate with aggressive customers over the phone.
- Knowing how and what to include in an incident report and how this assists in security planning.
- Being aware of the importance and benefits of participating in security training.
Pre-requisites
- None
Who Should Attend
- Area Manager and Supervisors
- Frontline Staff
- Security Staff
- Volunteers and Contractors
Course Outline
Participants will be guided through the following topic areas:
- Introduction to the Australian Legal System – Knowing your rights and responsibilities when dealing with an aggressive customer.
- State and Federal Legislation – Understanding the legislation that governs and protects you and your staff when dealing with incidents of customer aggression.
- Basic Principles of Conflict Resolution – Understanding the concepts and methodologies associated with resolving conflict with an aggressive person safely and securely.
- Building Rapport Quickly – Awareness of techniques that can help you and your staff build rapport quickly with someone to reduce the likelihood of verbal aggression.
- Creating Empathy – Introducing knowledge of strategies that can be used to prevent or de-escalate incidents of customer aggression.
- Phone-Based Negotiation Behaviours – Understanding the behaviours and traits to be aware of from both the aggressor and yourself when negotiating over the phone.
- De-escalation and Communication – Knowledge of the best practice procedure for de-escalating verbal aggression and communicating on the phone or face-to-face.
- Practical Application – Applying skills through scenario-based training to create competence and confidence amongst staff at all levels.
- Annual Security Awareness Training – Understanding the importance of security training as a frontline staff member and knowing how it will assist to reduce the chances of verbal aggression.
- Incident Reporting – Understanding what information is important when writing incident reports and how this information supports and drive the security strategies and planning.
Student Learning Outcomes
After this course, you will be able to:
Have an introduction to the Australian legal system and state and federal legislation that is in place to protect all staff from verbally aggressive customers.
Apply basic conflict resolution principles and techniques to build rapport and create empathy with the aggressive customer.
Distinguish and apply strategies for phone-based negotiation, de-escalation and communication.
Practically apply skills learned throughout the course through scenario-based training.
Understand the reasons for attending annual security awareness training and the importance of incident reporting.
Teaching Strategies & Approach to Learning
This course will provide all staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to deal with verbally aggressive customers and will provide strategies to mitigate the risks and resolve them safely.
These examples will be provided through the use of case studies, audio-visual snippets, quizzes and practical scenarios and will offer best practice guidance for staff to handle situations confidently.
Course Logistics
Location or delivery mechanisms – This program will be delivered as an instructor-led course for all organisation staff either in-house or at a pre-determined location.
Course Duration – The in-house course will take between 4 hours to 16 hours to complete depending on the customer aggression risk faced by organisations.
Course Assessment – Although this training package is not a pass/ fail, it is suggested that participants complete all questions and commit to the practical scenarios to ensure that they get the most benefit for themselves and the company.
Course Registration – You can register for this course by calling Agilient on 1300 341 692 or emailing securityinsights@agilient.com.au.